The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1887-09-28
THE QUESTION OF EXERCISE.

Physical culture is something en-
tirely different from outdoor sports
as they are carried on at present.
Americans do not take enough exer-
else. Many patients that come to
the doctor need outdoor exercise
more than they do medicine. The
great difficulty of our sports is that
they develop one set of muscles at
the expense of the others. A tennis
player trains in one way, a runner
in another, while boatsman goes
through an entirely different course
from either. Each of these athletes
is strong in one direction, but he has
neglected general muscular exer-
cises for the sake of developing
special locality. A man who in
tends to be runner will so train as
to develop the muscles of his legs;
but he will reduce the weight of his
body above his legs in order to carry
less weight. Pedestrianism is whole
some when INDUCED in for pleasure,
but is bad in contests. The pro-
fessional pedestrian finally becomes
thoroughly broken up; the stomach
and general system are exhausted
by too much exertion. Rowing is
one of the best exercises if INDUCED
in moderately, but an oarsman can
row in a contest until entirely ex-
hausted and not know it until he is
taken from his boat "paralyzed,"
so to speak. Baseball is full of
danger especially to the pitcher.
So true is it that the "baseball
pitchers arm" as we'll as the "ten-
mis- arm" are recognised in the
medical profession as special dis
eases. The exercise in baseball
sooner or later causes overstrain.
Tennis is violent exercise and is
liable to be carried too far. Run
ming is too much of an outburst to
be of service in a general way, and
is only good on account of the pre-
vious training necessary to follow it
up. 1t carries its own remedy with
it in the natural giving out of of the
legs before the rest of the body is
exhausted. The sensible way for
man to take outdoor sport is, acting
on medical authority, to develop by
special exercises the parts of the
BODY that are weak. It is surpris-
ing to me that horseback exercise is
not INDUCED in more than it is.
Many young men spend enough
money on their vices or follies to en-
able them to buy and keep a horse.
1 would suggest that for those who
cannot own a horse riding clubs
might be formed. Let the horses
be used by the members of the
clubs just the same as boats are
used by boating clubs. do not
know of any outdoor exercise so
suitable for men as the sports of the
field. Hunting is healthful and
beneficial sport. There is just
enough excitement about it to make
the exercise you take beneficial.
Hunting is good for the well, and
good for many who are sick. |
have known invalids, sent to the
South with the advice that they
should ego shooting" to come
back restored in health. The man
who combines hunting in the field
with horseback riding, as is done in
the South, has the best kind of OUT
door recreation. Horace Smith
while young man was given up by
the physicians to die of consump-
ton. He was in business and they
told him that he had better stop
work and devote the remainder OF
his life to his dog and gun. This
same young man died only recently
at the age of eighty. In the sport
ing papers, to which he was a con.
slant and valuable contributor, he
continually made public the fact
that he attributed his restored health
to the exercises that he had taken in
the field DIR. s. Fleet Spier, in
the Epoch.